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October 19, 2008

ALCS 7: Rays 3, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 100 000 000 - 1 3 0Rays - 000 110 10x - 3 6 1

Tampa Bay Rays - 2008 AL Champions.

Lester was good (7-6-3-0-8, 107), but Garza -- named the MVP of the series -- was better (7-2-1-3-9, 118).

Dustin Pedroia lined a home run to left in the first -- 6th pitch of the game -- and David Ortiz followed with a walk. Garza retired the next two Sox and outside of hitting FY in the third and walking him in the sixth, no other Sock reached base until there was one out in the seventh.

By that time, the Rays led 3-1. Lester did set down the first nine Rays batters, but a two-out double from Evan Longoria in the fourth tied the game and three straight hits to open the fifth -- Willy Aybar double, Dioner Navarro single, Rocco Baldelli single -- gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. Aybar donged to start the seventh to give the Rays a two-run lead.

Boston tried to rally. After Kevin Youkilis popped to shortstop to start the seventh, JD Drew walked on four pitches and Jason Bay singled. After a mound visit from Joe Maddon, Garza -- working slowly -- got Mark Kotsay to fly to right and then struck out Jason Varitek on a changeup in the dirt.

In the eighth, Alex Cora batted -- Tito was not very Assassiny tonight -- and grounded to shortstop. Jason Bartlett did not charge the ball and it clanked off his glove for an error. Maddon went to the bullpen -- repeatedly. He used four relievers in the inning. Dan Wheeler allowed a single to right from Coco Crisp but got FY on a routine fly to left. JP Howell came in and got Ortiz to ground to second (on seven pitches) and Coco was forced. Chad Bradford fell behind Yook 3-0, battled back to a full count, and walked him. Then David Price came in and struck out Drew on a 1-2 check swing.

Price -- who began the year in the lowly Florida State League -- came back out for the ninth. Jason Bay (cbbfbf) walked, but Price struck out Kotsay (ffbbc) and Varitek (bsfbs). Jed Lowrie pinch-hit for Cora and grounded a 0-1 pitch right to Akinori Iwamura, who grabbed the ball on a high hop and raced to second for the Red-Sox-season-ending force.

The Rays and Phillies will play Game 1 of the World Series at the Trop on Wednesday night.

It's amazing. It's really amazing the games we play, and how much fun it's been. When we're all old and our children are all grown up, we'll sit around and meet up and talk about games like the game the other day. It's a wild ride, and we're very spoiled.

In my opinion, there'll be less pressure on anyone. We'll throw it out there and have fun. I think there was more pressure when we were up 3-to-1. There was pressure on us to end it. Elimination games are always pressure-packed. You feel you have to win them, and in that situation you start to press. Now it's back to 0-0, and we'll come out and play the way we've been playing all year.

The Rays had spent the off day Friday swearing up and down that, nope, there wasn't going to be any sort of carryover effect from Game 5, and yep, they had already forgotten all about it and seemed almost offended by the line of questioning.

Crushing loss? What crushing loss?

But defeats like Thursday's don't wash off in the shower. They stay with you. ...

The cracks are starting to show now. Arguably the best defensive team in the league during the season, the Rays have withered in the field in the last two games. ... The bullpen, so critical to the team's magic this season, suddenly looks vulnerable. ...

Game 7 comes tonight, the game the Rays didn't want. They have whiffed on two chances to put the Red Sox away for good and tonight they get their last chance.

What a gong show this weekend was. Oktoberfest friday, brick brewery "tour" yesterday. Watched up to the tek dong here then as soon as I got to the brewery put the game on there and watched the rest of it with the group of people. All the while telling them that it's inevitable. Once it was going back to Tampa, Rays are effed in the eh.

OK, Red Sox, Tampa has pissed away their precious lead in the series. They have nothing to fall back on if they lose tonight and don't tell me those guys won't start thinking, as soon as the Sox take a lead on them in the game, that they were 7 outs away with a seven run lead. Hopefully, the Sox will take the lead early and give the Rays plenty of time to think about how they choked away this series. I like the Sox' chances tonight ...a lot...

It's 363 days since I sat in exactly this spot in my home here in England and watched Game 7 of the ALCS whilst talking to you guys, knowing full well that I had to get up for a work no more than 2 hours after the game would finish.

This year I intend to the do the same but have made my preperations; this year I don't have to go to work until midday...I feel like I've grown up so much LOL.

Yes, this can be a good test for the young lady, to see if she understands your Soxishness.

During the 2003 playoffs I was in Luxembourg for 2 months. Met a girl midway through my stay and was scheduled to depart the morning of Game 7 of the ALCS, arriving in Boston just before the first pitch.

As my day of departure neared, she asked me to extend my stay and go to Paris with her. This was the morning of Game 6. I said:

"If the Red Sox lose tonight, I'll change my ticket and we'll go to Paris. If they win, I have to go home for the World Series."

We won Game 6. I left.

We lost Game 7. I thought I'd never see her again and made a bad choice.

She's now my wife.

And we probably laughed harder than anyone else in the theatre during the Fever Pitch trailer when they showed the "Come to Paris with me./Sorry, the Red Sox need me" scene.

I don't have anyone to worry about except the Sox... But one of the reasons why we got along as long as we did was because she really did understand the Red Sox/Bruins/BC thing. She was never a fan, but always understood and even fed into it sometimes.

I'd say that is, in fact, an important thing to learn about a potential significant other.

right but there was an attempt to put it in and from what he said it sounded like it didn't happen as planned. I wasn't being sarcastic, I am a huge fan of Allan and his book! I wish it had gotten in instead of that stupid Dirt Dogs shirt Fallon was wearing!

My dad taught ESL to Spanish-speakers for decades, and while he agrees that by rule, the second to last syllable should be emphasized as long as there's no accent mark, he said he's taught plenty of Ortiz's, and they all said "or-TEEZ."